Albel's Ocean
by TehRogerDeath
Summary: What if Albel was the main character of SO3 instead of Fayt? That is exactly what my story proposes! As the story goes on, I will include references to other games like Halo and Warhammer 40k! The real chapter 6 is up with chapter seven well on its way!
1. Albel's Big Day

My favorite Star Ocean: Till the End of Time character has to be the awesome "Albel the Wicked" and recently I thought "What would he be like if he was the main character and grew up with the technology Fayt was exposed to?" Here is my idea of what would have happened. I do not own SO or any related characters, and am not making money off of this story. If anybody is, it better be Square-Enix!

LeonDeath of the Elemental Gang

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Albel walked out of the game simulator. He was just enjoying a good action game, one of his favorites: Digital Ocean. He just loved playing the somewhat evil Aleb, as he seemed to fit Aleb's description and mindset. Albel walked out and back to the lobby of the gaming simulation where there were a bunch of couches and replicators for the guests to use. He wasn't sitting down for long before his childhood friend Sophia walked up and put a drink in front of his face.

"Ahh! Watch it or I'll get you next time!" He said when he saw who held the drink out for him. "I thought you were swimming down at the beach and were going to stay there for longer! I figured I'd be able to swat a few more flies before you came back!" He said to her. While she had said that, he had also said that he would head down there after a few battles of Digital Ocean. Unfortunately, he had gotten involved in a couple of storylines that took him into a few fights at a time, so he counted each set as one so that contributed to the time it took him to have those few fights.

"I was waiting for you the entire time and I finally got tired of it because you took so long! I thought you were just going to fight a few battles!" She said. Of course, she was right. Albel had to admit that if she had taken that long for something she promised to do with him, he would have been mad as well.

"I got involved in a couple of storylines! I wasn't able to quit after them, besides, I was doing so well fighting all those maggots!" He said in his traditional manner of speech. It was also how Aleb talked, so that just proved how much they were similar. He enjoyed talking that way when his parents weren't around, because they would have frowned upon it if they heard him. He always thought it was cool though; it made him sound tough yet also sensitive, just like he was.

"Riight, and this just so happens to come up when you promised me you'd be somewhere with me? Sounds like you had it planned!" Sophia said. You could tell she was mad, and she didn't get mad easily.

"Bah. How about we go shopping or something to make it up?" He asked her, knowing she would come around eventually. Even if he screwed up so badly that she stopped talking to him, saying that would work, at least as long as he bought everything that she wanted. Because he did this a lot, his spending money was rapidly dwindling. Thank the lord he had a job back on Earth!

"Humph!" She went. "Alright, just make sure you have a few thousand Fol this time though! This isn't going to be so easy on your wallet!" Albel didn't like where this was going. Usually she spent a couple hundred Fol worth of clothing or jewelry before she was done with him, but a few thousand Fol? That was almost one of his paychecks!

_Maybe this was just a mistake. I could easily spend that much on gaming…_

He thought. Every game you played without taking a break cost 500 Fol for the Battle Simulators, less for everything else. He was doing so well today that he was thinking of returning later when everybody else was asleep so he could have the whole area to himself.

"Well Albel? I might just make it more if you wait to tell me when we'll go!" She said cheerfully.

"How about tomorrow?" He asked. "And where all would you like to go then?" He always wanted to know, despising secrets. Sometimes when Sophia was trying on her clothes, he peaked on her for a few seconds, most of the time he got caught and was forced to spend more on her, but every now and then he got away with it so he didn't mind her shopping for clothes. Bras and underwear were even better, but she was more on guard then too, so his chances were limited but possible of peaking at her without getting caught. Jewelry shopping wasn't nearly as entertaining as the clothing shopping, but still fun at times.

"Clothing shopping mainly, maybe Victoria's Secret. Why?" She asked. Albel got happy because of what she said, so he just replied his usual of he was curious so he could plan some shopping for him to do while she was doing hers. His mind however, was planning on spying on her when she was changing. Albel wasn't the smartest egg in the universe, but he certainly was able to build a little spying "fly cam" that was actually almost as small as a cell. He could watch the feed live or when he got back from shopping with Sophia. For a while, it looked like he was staring out into space. "Albel? You ok? You sure you want to go shopping tomorrow?" She asked him. The minute he heard that, he got mad at her again.

"I set the date for tomorrow so that I could get it out of the way as soon as possible! I'll be able to make it." He said, his voice iced with anger.

"Excuse me, but could you two take this somewhere else? We need to work on one of the Battle Simulators that some kid like adult Albel broke because he used it so much. If I could met him then I would congratulate him for being able to do so because it is so hard to do!" An employee of the hotel said to them after clearing everybody else out. He looked like he was unhappy about having to work on a Saturday, but nobody cared.

"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?!?!" Albel shouted angrily. He wasn't fond of being anything like a kid, except for playing games. He couldn't give them up for the world! Before Albel could hurt anybody, Sophia dragged him out of the area and back to their hotel room.

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Well there you go! Next chapter will be up as soon as I can write it and upload it! Please review!


	2. His Day Gets Worse

Just a little clarification, in this story Albel is the same age that Fayt would be if he was the main character.

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Albel didn't like getting dragged along. He hated it as much as he hated being beaten by people who were lower level then him, but he was polite about it when that person was able to impress him. That didn't happen often though, so most of the time he would go right back and kill the person that killed him. Anyways, while Albel was being dragged, it gave him some time to think about what he could do while Sophia was shopping tomorrow. Why had he promised her he would do it again? Oh yeah, another chance to spy on her.

Even though it didn't take long to reach their room, it did however take a while for Albel to snap back to reality. "Where did you bring me worm?" he said, sounding more and more like Aleb every time he opened his mouth. That wasn't something that made Sophia any happier.

"Albel…" she said before slapping him hard. It wasn't like she had hit him before because this was unbelievably harder. "You know I don't like you talking like that or calling me worm, maggot, or anything else along those lines!"

"Damn, why did you need to hit so hard?" He asked her. Sometimes she slapped him that hard when she found him peaking on her, but more often then naught, she just forced him to go get something for her. The shopping was always the worst part of having her as a friend, but the best part of her as a friend had to be the changing. Yep, defiantly the changing.

"Because you always do it!" she practically yelled at him. She was always stubborn about what she said, and if something goes wrong, she has to slap somebody to make things right. Why, only she knew and would ever know. The changing always made the hurt go away though.

"So what? You do annoying things all the time yet I don't hit you do I?" he snapped back. Few things got him angrier then when she stole some of his Fol. Did he slap her when she stole his Fol? Nope, he never had. Will he? Most likely not, he secretly loved her, but unfortunately she would most likely never love him. The way that he loved her would explain the peaking while she was changing.

"No, but you do peak on me when I'm changing and that is bad enough!" she retorted. Were all girls like this, or just the ones he knew? Always nagging on him for one reason or another, never just treating him nicely. While he did "peak", he just wanted to make sure she was ok. At least, that is what he SAID. He did it to look at her. The Internet was losing its touch.

"Hph." He said before walking out. He had taken enough of her lectors for one day. He went down to the first floor and in some random door, just looking around. A couch and a small TV was all it contained. _Figures._ He thought. He left and looked in the doors next to the one he had entered, but they were all the same. _Is everything the same in this damn hotel?_ He asked himself. Unfortunately, Sophia had somehow managed to change into something halfway decent and find him, even though it looked like she forgot to put on underwear and button her pants. Oh well, more possible peaking for Albel.

"THERE YOU ARE! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU, WALKING OUT OF THE ROOM WHILE I'M NOT DONE TALKING TO YOU!" She was fuming mad, almost to the point that Albel thought that she was going to kill him. It wasn't his luck that she had found him. Now her fury was about twenty times worse then it had been seconds before. Albel just ignored her and walked into yet another random door.

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Sorry, don't have access to the game at the moment so the Peppita chapter will have to wait. Please review!


	3. Somehow, It Gets Even Worse

Albel hadn't noticed that he walked into a gaming simulator that somebody else had just exited, but the computer hadn't shut the door yet. Sophia, blind with rage, followed him in, still yelling at him like crazy. Because neither of them programmed in the settings, they were still from whomever used it last. Unfortunately for Sophia, the level was so high the simulation was over before it began pretty much. Albel didn't last long either, thanks to the abundance of enemies and a character he sucked at. _Why did I have to get stuck with that idiotic Time? He is the worst person in the whole game!_ He thought to himself.

Then the ground shook underneath them. "An earthquake? Here?" Sophia asked.

Apparently Albel didn't think so. "Bah. What caused the ground to shake computer?" he asked, believing that some stupid chef had accidentally created an explosion. The computer didn't respond for some time. "Computer! Give me an answer before I rip your parts out with my bare hands!"

"Insufficient data to determine source of the movement of rock beneath us." The computer replied in its monotone voice.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN INSUFFICIENT DATA YOU OUTDATED PIECE OF SCRAP METAL!" Albel angrily asked the computer. If something wasn't working right when it should have been, then he got seriously pissed off. At this point, Sophia's rage was nothing compared to the amount of fury Albel was trying to contain within his body.

"Not enough data was collected at the time you first asked me. Currently, my data suggests that there is a 98.32571 chance we are under attack from another civilization, and a 1.67429 chance that it was just some seismic activity." The computer replied. Then the ground shook again. "99.99958 chance of an attack. Evacuation is required, so head to the nearest teleporter and it will send you to an evacuation corridor where there will be a larger teleporter that will take you to the evacuation shelter."

"WHAT?" Albel screamed with fury. "Show me the attackers!" he demanded. Sophia just thought about her safety, so she ran out the door and headed to the teleporters. Back in the game room, an image popped up of a huge red ship attacking the resort. From what Albel could tell, it wasn't the Aldein Empire again, so he didn't know who was attacking. He decided to ask Sophia, but as we know, she wasn't there.

Now Albel was the one that was getting mad, and he ran after her, or at least to where he thinks she left to go to. Once he left the game room though, this task was unbelievably hard as there were now hundreds of people around, taking up all but a few spaces of the whole first floor. _Great. _Albel thought, knowing that this would cause things to be harder for him to find Sophia. He walked out as he could, but somebody soon ran into him.

"Hey! Who is blocking the great Rossetti Troop?" A small girl asked in a tone that Albel believed to be irritating. Then again, pretty much anybody he didn't like's voice sounding annoying to him. This was the person who Albel had run into, but he had no idea who the Rossetti Troop was. "Oh, a fan?" the girl asked, before jumping up off of the floor. "You must want my autograph then!" The girl whipped out a pen, where she got it not even **I** know, and signed the back of our favorite character's shirt.

"**WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE TO MY FAVORITE SHIRT YOU LITTLE MAGGOT!"** he roared at her. Sure he had tons of other clothes like that, but that was his favorite one.

"You mean you didn't want my autograph? You aren't one of my fans? Oh well, I guess I should have thought it strange to have a fan when I haven't even performed yet. Then why did you stop me on my way to evacuate?" she asked, still using that irritating tone of voice that Albel hated.

"YOU ran into me, not the other way around you little maggot. Now leave me alone, lest I cause you bodily harm." Albel said before running towards the teleporters. He arrived in a small room with six teleporters that all looked the same. _I knew it! Everything IS the same in this damn resort!_ He thought, remembering the rooms that were the same ((Last chapter for you who didn't just skip here)). He walked into one and was instantly teleported to the evacuation corridor where everybody was supposed to be. There was a glowing sphere in front of him, and when he walked in it, his pocket started vibrating. He pulled out his digital dictionary, automatic updating was the newest version released, and flipped to a blank page. Text slowly started filling in:

"SAVE POINT

The glowing object you are in is called a 'save point.' Save points are automatically activated when you walk towards them."

"What the hell is this shit?" he asked himself out loud. "Stupid thing is broken again!" He turned to another of his pages and it showed info on him. "What the hell is wrong with this piece of shit?"

"I don't know, what is it?" came an irritating voice again. There was the girl right behind him, wanting to get by. "I'm Peppita Rossetti by the way, and here are two tickets to our next performance, wherever that may be!" She handed him two tickets. "One could be for your girlfriend!"

"I don't have a girlfriend! Besides, these tickets say that they are only good here, and what is this scribbled on the back?" he asked, flipping the tickets over. The writing looked worse then a doctor's.

"That is my signature! Don't you like it? Someday that shirt of yours will be worth over a million Fol!" Albel walked off, not wanting to deal with that girl anymore. HE walked right over to where his parents were, and he saw Sophia and his mom hugging in a way that he only saw in Digital Ocean, something that could have been described as "badly animated." "Bah. Glad to see you all made it." He said. Then he heard a loud bang as part of the wall flew from where it was. In came two weird looking soldiers, each wearing a robe and a strange facemask.

"The Vendini! Honey!" Albel's father said as his wife nodded. They ran towards the solders, but forced Albel and Sophia to continue to the other teleporter so they could safely make it to the Emergency Shelter while they waited for a Federation ship to take them to the closest Remote Station, probably Moon Station. The soldiers released these spidery bots that ran after them, so Albel and Sophia just grabbed some pipes and started defending themselves. They defeated one round, but another came running at them. Then a huge foot smashed a few of them.

"If it isn't my fan?" came Peppita's voice. "This is the strongest man in my Troop, Ursa! He'll take care of them while we can run!" she said before hopping down from his shoulders and running towards the exit.


	4. Savagery Consues

Thank you to all my readers and reviewers, because the more hits/positive reviews I get, the better I feel as a writer. Here is the next installment of the now anticipated Albel's Ocean. The disclaimers for the past chapters continue here and for the rest of the story.

LeonDeath

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"What! My parents are back there you little maggot! I can't just leave them!" Albel shouted before turning around and trying to run to help his parents, but he had his path blocked by Ursus. Albel tried walking around the big man, but to no success as Ursus then moved to bar the new course. That was when Albel swung his pipe at Ursus, nailing him in the stomach. "GET OUT OF MY WAY!" he shouted. Somehow, Ursus was able to stand after such a blow and still refused to move.

"Come on Albel! If you go back there you will only be killed like your parents will surely be! You need to keep moving before the attackers get this close!" Sophia called, tugging on his arm. "Please, do it for me!" She said, before realizing that she couldn't do anything she let him go, and backed away.

"Fine Albel, if you don't want to come with us then I'll just have Ursus carry you then!" Peppita said before turning to Ursus. "Would you pick him up and bring him along?" She asked him before the strong man picked up the squirming Albel. "Ok then! This way!" She said before she ran off in the direction of the teleporter.

The teleporter took them to an underground shelter that appeared to be made out of metal, as here was no trace of dirt or any other material that could have been there originally. A guard was there to greet them. "Welcome to evacuation shelter Inuba, please enjoy yourselves in your assigned rooms while we wait for the transport ships to arrive. You two" he pointed to Albel and Sophia, "will be in room 506, while you others will be with the rest of your troop in room 509." He said cheerfully, as he was happy to actually have something to do besides watch the teleporter for any unwanted guests.

"IS THAT ALL YOU CAN SAY MAGGOT!?!?!? CAN'T YOU SEE THAT THIS IS NO TIME TO BE CHEARFUL BECAUSE PEOPLE ARE DYING OUT THERE AND WE ARE TRAPPED HERE!?!" Albel shouted at the guard with rage, mad that he couldn't do anything else to help his parents out from their current predicament. "MY PARENTS ARE BACK THERE, MOST LIKELY CAPTURED AND ALL YOU CAN SAY IS 'ENJOY YOUR STAY?'" He shouted again this time smacking the guard down and proceeding though the set of doors in front of him.

"Albel!" Sophia called after him. "Show some courtesy! This man is in as much agony as you are! Think of somebody besides yourself for one!" Sophia was furious at how Albel was acting, because he was becoming a ruthless savage, or at least he would if he continued at this rate.

"Just let him go, he can't go far!" Peppita chimed in. "Why not bring him over to my Troop's room later? We could give you guys a show to help cheer Albel up! Maybe it could help!" She said cheerfully while Ursus nodded his head in agreement.

"The lil' lady is right." Ursus said after Peppita finished. "It could do him some good."

"Hm. You obviously don't know Albel. He'll deal with this by breaking things like usual." Sophia commented.

Meanwhile…..

Albel was sitting on the bed assigned to him, head in his hands and balling his eyes out. He was alone, as it was embarrassing for somebody his age to be crying like that over his parents. He couldn't let anybody know what he was doing because somehow word would get around to his University and he would be the laughingstock of the school.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps outside and he aborted his crying operation and switched to his cover-up: smashing and breaking things just like Sophia said he would be doing the entire time.

"Excuse me sir." An attendant of the emergency station walked in hearing the noise made by Albel. "But everything here is part of the Pangalactic Federation and as such destruction of anything here will result in-" The attendant was able to say before Albel knocked him out and put him in one of the other beds. Then Sophia walked in.

"Albel! When your parents find out about thi-" She said before realizing where she was going with that line of speech. "I…I'm sorry Albel. I guess I just can't grasp this as reality and not something you would read about in books. It seems almost like a fantasy doesn't it Albel?" she asked him, back to her usual self.

"Not one of my fantasies." He though. "I guess it kind of does fell like a fantasy, almost as though we are in a video game…Nah, that couldn't be." He says, thinking about Digital Ocean and how they are part of another game entirely. Biggest. Twist. Ever. "I just hope that I'm not responsible for this somehow, although the idea of a whole civilization chasing after me does sound rather exciting!" He says.

"Whatever." Sophia said before she yawned. "All this has worn me out. Would you stay here until I fall asleep Albel?" She asked him before getting in her bed (the one next to where the attendant is)

"Do I look like a guardian angel to you?" Albel asked her before nodding his head, basically stating that he would wait until Sophia fell asleep before leaving again, if he was going to. Within moments, she was asleep. Then he went to his bed and fell asleep.

It wasn't long before he woke up. The clock showed it was 3:52 AM. Then an official announcement came on stating that the Vendeen were the ones that attacked Hyda 4 and that it was a surprise attack. It also stated that the Federation was trying to mount an effective counterattack and that the administrators requested that all refuges teleport to the closest transport ship so that there would be less causalities then if they remained there. Albel and Sophia took the chance presented before them and took it, using the teleporters to escape.


	5. Departure

I apologize for taking so long with this chapter, but due to circumstances beyond my control, I was without a computer that had any Internet connection at all, not even dial-up. As a quick note, I have decided that I will almost certainly expand on the story line by continuing on it or flashing over to Sophia's adventures during the first disc of the game, perhaps even creating stories about what each of the main characters is doing in this time. There will also be more and more references to other games during the next chapters, starting with an obvious Halo inclusion and a Star Wars inclusion in this chapter. Look for more references as the story continues because I won't always announce them!

LeonDeath

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Once they arrived on the transport ship, a male attendant was there to greet them. "Welcome to the transport ship GFSS-13372 Helre. You must have been through a lot. The observation bay is directly through the hallway in front of you." He said before ushering them through so the next group could come on.

Because neither of them had been on Federation Transport Ships before, they were both amazed at the size of the massive ship. Sophia looked around the hallway and was shocked at how many people it could hold. "Wow!" she said out of awe. They continued on walking to the observation bay that he attendant had told them about. They noticed a huge screen and walked over to where everybody was standing. Instantly they were taken back. On the screen was a live feed of the battlefield with multiple Vendeen and Federation Battle-Class Ships engaging each other.

"Oh no! This isn't good for the Federation at all!" Albel said.

"I didn't think it was this bad!" Sophia commented. Then, the captain came on the intercom.

"All passengers brace for warp turbulence, as we are going to enter Gravitic Warp momentarily. I repeat, brace for warp turbulence." The captain said before switching of the microphone and giving the order for the Gravitic Warp Engine to be activated. Albel, who was used to the warp turbulence moved to the platform in front of the armored glass panes so that he could see the warp tunnel being created. He could see the inside of the tunnel forming, but no lines of stars forming. "What, the stars stopped stretching across my view after _Star Wars_ came out last year?" He thought.

Next thing he knew, he was sitting down in one of the chairs there with Sophia sleeping on his shoulder and his eyes down her shirt. He moved his elbow and she woke up though, ending his stares. "Where are we Albel?" she asked him, but he just shrugged.

"They haven't made any announcements yet, so I expect we are off course." Albel said. He didn't know and he didn't care where he was.

"Well, why not ask somebody then? I'm sure a crew member would know our status!" Sophia suggested, so it was obvious that she wanted to know what was going on.

"Do I have to Sophia? I would rather just sit here." He said, while he though "With you positioned so I can see them!" He wouldn't say that though, as that would make him look worse then he already did. When all Sophia did was stare at him he knew that she wasn't going to let that happen. "Fine Sophia, but just for you. I could care less you know" He said before standing up and started walking over to where they entered the observation hall. "You coming or not?"

"Just give me a second Albel! Unlike you, I care about how I look!" Sophia yelled at him, and you could tell that she was not very happy at all. That was not good for Albel, because the madder she got, she also got bossier, if that was possible. The bossier she got the more Albel had to do to get her back to normal, and it usually ended up with his wallet being remarkably lighter then before. Combine that with him taking her shopping tomorrow and he wouldn't be able to afford next month's rent at his University. Not unless he could somehow make 2,154 Fol on their vacation. Not likely, especially because the vacation was coming to a close and so he was running out of time.

Finally, she came walking up, looking the same she did before she "cleaned up her looks" as she had said. Albel decided not to comment on this and just kept walking. When he was back in the hallway, he saw that the entire Rossetti Troup was talking amongst themselves, so Albel just walked around them as much as possible and entered a door that he had seen another guy going into, and it looked like he believed that his business was much more important then anything anybody else could come up with.

"What do you mean I can't see the captain? Do you know who I am?" The man (who Albel saw walking in the door) shouted at one of the attendants of the Helre. "I could get you and the captain of this ship fired once I get back to Earth!"

"I'm sorry sir, but I have strict instructions from the captain not to let any unauthorized or non-military personnel up here. Please return to the observation deck until we have reached our destination or somebody attacks us. Chances of that happening right now are ridiculously low due to us being in Gravitic Warp." The attendant calmly replied. The man, not satisfied with his answer, turned and started to leave, but our heroes were in the way.

"Get out of my sight!" He said and Albel and Sophia stepped to the side to let the rude man pass. After he left, they talked for a bit about the warp creation engine & other devices associated with them. The attendant next to where they moved to was happy to tell young minds what the engine does and how it works. Of note was talk of the Neuman Purifier, a device that would protect people from any dangers that the warp creation engine might create. As long as it is with the engine at least.

So our two heroes left the stairwell and returned to the observation room "I'm going to see if there is any way to figure out where we are from the tunnel." Albel said before walking up to a small platform that would allow him to get a decent look out into space, if they weren't in Gravitic Warp at least. Suddenly, he noticed the Gravitic Wrap Tunnel collapsed. "I'm not even going to ask what happened. Somehow the computer will find a way to badmouth me like last time. Once is bad enough, but if it happens again, the computer will no longer work!" Albel said to himself.

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There you have it, chapter five of Albel's Ocean. Thank you all for the reviews and support. I have decided that next chapter I will follow what Cliff, Mirage, and Maria are doing aboard the Diplo while Albel and Sophia are being chased by the Vendeeni on Hyda IV and the Helre. See you next chapter!


	6. The Diplo Crew

Time to get to work

Time to get to work! Incase you have forgotten, this chapter is going to be Maria, Cliff, and Mirage on the Diplo. I would personally like to make a shout-out to Catfish Tango and EM-K19 for giving me some inspiration to continue this subject, despite games like Call of Duty 4, Final Fantasy 12, and Dynasty Warriors 4 (an old but still awesome game!). Anyways, without further due, I present the continuing story of the Albel themed Star Ocean 3!

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It was about the time that Albel realized that computers were no longer nice to him (see chapter 3) that Cliff got one of his infamous hunches that something was going wrong with their plan. "I'm telling ya, I've just got this hunch that we won't be able to get to Albel that easily. It's almost as though some great militaristic empire is on the verge of capturing him and stopping us." He explained to Mirage in the bridge of the ship, waiting for Maria to get there. Because of how Cliff's hunches usually got him and everybody involved in a series of events that would eventually lead them back to exactly where they started and in the same conditions as they were before they followed his stupid hunches. For this reason, Cliff's hunch would end up being a last resort.

The most feared words on the whole ship were "Just a hunch" unless somebody besides Cliff said it. Those words were dreaded, but actions would often speak louder then words. For example, one year back when the Federation attacked the small Quark fleet, Cliff's "hunch" turned out to be applauded (looking back on it, the surviving members of Quark are puzzled on how something like that could even occur). He believed that if the Quark members lost a few ships and fell back without firing a shot, they might instill a sense of the Federation being a "bully" on the smaller fleet. Maria told the fleet to do as he had suggested, but instead of just losing two or three ships, they lost every ship except the Diplo, and almost the entire group of volunteers stationed on them. After sustaining great amounts of damage to her hull, the Diplo finally managed to escape into Slip-Space. Cliff was right about one thing though; in a week Quark managed to gain enough support to rebuild their forces.

Back to the story at hand, Mirage was unconvinced. "Your hunches have been wrong before, if I remember correctly. You almost crashed the whole ship into a giant asteroid based off of a hunch that there was a Federation base there?"

"That was one time! Besides, there WAS a base there right? If **I **remember correctly, it was on the other side of the asteroid!" Cliff retorted back, offeneded that somebody was able to remember a time when a hunch didn't pay off like he said it would.

"There was one INSIDE the asteroid, but was slamming the Diplo into it a good idea?" Mirage fired back. "Then there was that other time when you beamed up the "ambassidor" because you though the Federation was going to surrender to a small group like Quark. If it weren't for Maria none of us would still be here!"

The sound of automatic doors opening rang through the room as Maria finally stepped into the room. If you had seen her before, it would be hard to recognize her. Her long blue hair was a mess, she had bags underneath her eyes, and she looked like she had thrown on whatever clothes were closest to her bed. Running Quark must have been hard on her, especially when word of Cliff's "hunch" came to her.

"What is it this time? You want to ram another asteroid with the ship? No wait, let me guess, the Vedeeni sent an ambassidor for peace and you want to let him in?" She was not happy, especially since she usually got ten hours of sleep per galactic standard week. So far, she was lucky to get the two hours of sleep she had. First the attack on Hydra IV, then Cliff's hunch, how lucky could she get?

You could see Mirage smile. Somebody besides her remembered Cliff's greatest blunders…or at least some of them. "Two times out of how many? Besides, I do recall the "Quark Grows Hunch" being heralded as the rebirth of Quark into the modern eye!" Cliff reveled in his one-time success. He was happy to remind everybody of that event on what had became a weekly basis.

"You lost every ship besides the Diplo! Sure, you may have gotten us a great deal more members but the cost of replacing those ships is still out of our budget range. The Eagle is the only other ship left to us, and even then it's barely able to be called a ship." Maria threw that line back at him every time he pulled his "QGH." It pissed him off to no end, because she could turn a success of his into something negative. He always tried to be more of a positive person, although that was not always the case.

"Well Mirage, do you think this is a credible threat?" Maria asked the older woman, rubbing her temples as she did. She was under a great deal of stress at this point, as Albel was needed to figure out what her Alteration gene was meant for.

"I'll look for him using his communicator, and get back to you on my decision…it will hopefully only take a few hours." Mirage happened to be pretty handy with computers, and was able to track any person they wanted through the standard-issue communicator. There was also the more extreme (but far more accurate) DNA tracing measure. However, this was also very costly, requiring the Diplo to completely shut down to power the necessary computer systems.

"What, my hunches not working for you ladies? I've avoided crashing the Diplo after the first incident! Besides, after Hydra IV was attacked, doesn't it make sense that he could be in more danger? What if the Vendeeni got to him before we did? Even worse, the Federation could try and capture him once they learn of Leingod's research!"

Maria and Mirage looked at each other, not believing what they just heard come out of Cliff's mouth. He actually provided logic as to his hunch (now seeming more like a logical decision to assist Albel). They both came to the same conclusion: Hell had indeed frozen over!

"Mirage, take Cliff and head towards the last known location of Albel. If need be, resort to flying around the Federation blockade or breaking the Planet Preservation Pact to get him. Without him, everything we will have worked towards will be for nothing!"

"Yes mam!" The two Klausians saluted her and turned to run to their ship, the Eagle. The way to the docking bay was a long one, full of turns and dead-ends. Finally though, they reached their ship. They looked at each other for a second before Cliff broke the silence. "You bring the ignition system?"

Mirage looked panicked. "You had them last! What did you do with them this time, leave them in your room?" Cliff's face turned to one of horror, and he quickly looked through his pockets, not finding much more then some pocket lint.

Back on the bridge, Maria tossed the ignition system up and down. _Let this be a lesson to never wake me up for a 'hunch!' It may take them a bit longer then I had hoped to find out where the keys were and get Albel, but it was very much worth it!_ She though to herself, waiting for Cliff or Mirage to come running through the doors.

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Well there we go, chapter 6. Finally done despite all my distractions/procrastinations about it. This is an important chapter for me to know how I did, so I know if you liked the idea of fleshing out the story, or if that idea should head to the ever growing collection of bad ideas I think up. If its somewhere in the middle, please leave some suggestions as to what I can do in future chapters to improve the literary skills I have used in this piece of fiction. (An interesting note here, my version of Microsoft Word displays the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level to be a 7.1, yet I have the literary skills of probably a twelfth grader. All this in character crap is keeping me from realizing my true potential!)


	7. Computers and Men Don't Get Along!

So here we go again, chapter seven. After chapter six was finished, I felt obligated to get this chapter up much faster then the last one, especially considering that I now have a semi-concrete script to stick to (events are not changed, just the character reactions and such are) allowing a faster presentation of the next segment of the story! So, back to Albel on the Transport Ship Helre!

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Computers just didn't like Albel. He had gotten used to that fact after about the twentieth time a computer badmouthed or talked back to him. Because of this, he stopped asking any computer what happened when something went wrong, or where somebody was. What he didn't know was that this was just something that human(ish) males had to go through with computers on a daily basis. A good example to explain this would be the captain of the Helre.

Commander Volga was the kind of person that if something went wrong, he had no idea how to fix it unless it was something obvious to do, and had very little chance of screwing things up. As such, when his ship got attacked, he panicked. _What do I do? We have no weapons or ways of communicating with this threat! I knew I should have just gotten a job working as a manufacturing business owner! _Very much aware that his crew knew EXACTLY what to do and was waiting for him to say something, he instinctively asked the onboard computer system on what happened and what to do.

"The warp field unexpectedly collapsed several minutes ago. Why this occurred I have no idea, and I am not willing to help out a dimwitted captain on figuring it out. I will also certainly NOT help said captain on telling his crew what to do, as that is what the captain's job requires." Commander Volga, under his breath, swore to kill whoever programmed the ship AI to be so damn rude! It is also pretty well known to us (the writer/readers) that he has no idea that the AI is rude to everybody, but only to human(ish) males. It was nice and polite to the females though!

The whole crew looked and laughed at the captain, ridiculing him and destroying the chain-of-command in the ship. The laughing only lasted until the ship was hit with another shot from the Vendeeni, this one directly hitting their shields. With that, they all turned back to their control panels and started going about the emergency tasks that, under normal circumstances, they would have waited for the captain of the ship to tell them to do.

Volga knew what to do at this point though: he had to evacuate the ship of all passengers and, escape pods permitting, the crew. He also felt an obligation to the evacuees of Hyda IV to explain the situation before having his crew escort them to the area with all the escape pods. He keyed up the inter-ship communications and got ready to make his announcement.

"Er…this is your captain….Commander Volga speaking. ….I've uh…never had to do this before but uh….we have come under attack by….." Volga gave a long pause, struggling to get the words out right. He was panicking very much at this point. He slowly gathered it together and started again, much more fluently then before. "Vendeeni forces. We have taken a direct hit…I take that back, SEVERAL direct hits from their weapons. So at this point, the crew is trying to keep the shields up as long as possible, but I have no way of knowing how long that might be. I would engage our gravitic warp engine, but it has become unstable and doing so might blow up the whole ship. For your safety, please proceed to the escape pods and get as far away from here and the Vendeeni ships as possible." He switched off the mike, and held his face in his hands.

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Albel stood next to Sophia, pants STILL not buttoned, and listened to the announcement. _Better then having the computer tell me_ he finally decided. The captain, despite being a commander, sounded like he had never been through situations like this and had cheated on the captain's exam. His safety was compromised by somebody who must have bought his ay to his position instead of going through all the proper procedures, and yet Albel kept thinking back to the "commander" part. The more he though about it, the more he realized that it might actually be part of Volga's name.

Albel had little time left to dwell on the subject of Volga's name, as the crewmembers currently working on the level he was on came rushing in to the Viewing Deck, struggling to get all of the other passengers into the escape pods calmly and quickly. However, Albel found that no matter how long he stood there, it was like nobody was moving farther into the bowels of the ship. He had already lost Sophia in the huge crowed, so he decided to go talk to "Commander" Volga about the current situation. He quickly and easily slipped away from the crowd and proceeded up to the next level, the one he was not allowed in just a few hours ago. There he found just one door unlocked, and that was conveniently the ship's bridge.

"Well well well, its Commander Volga, failed captain of the Helre." He said out loud, scaring the crap of Volga. The crew continued to monitor the situation and paid no head to Albel's sudden appearance. Volga turned around to face Albel.

"If you think you could do a better job then go ahead and try! This piece of crap AI on the ship is not able to help me at all." Albel sighed at that. "And this is not a situation that is talked about in flight school."

The computer chirped up. "Shields are at 20% and cannot be reinforced anymore. All remaining crew need to evacuate immediately." The crew in the bridge stood up and looked at their captain, only to see a look in his eyes that they had never seen before.

"Make sure ALL the refugees are off before any of you even step foot in any escape pod. We took on too many refugees and I cannot guarantee that all of you can survive this after our passengers get free from our craft." He stood his ground, and would not back down. The determination in his eyes would have scared even a greater man. He spoke to Albel one last time. "You need to get out of here. We will draw their fire for as long as we can, but at the rate they are shooting at us I don't think we will last much longer. We already lost our Gravitic Warp Engine, so we cannot run." He turned to face Albel. "RUN!"

Albel turned around and raced down the corridor to the stairs, and almost broke his neck trying to get down to the escape pods. 'I'm going to kill who ever designed the ships for this fleet, nothing seems to be able to operate like they want it too. Maybe putting weapons on a transport ship might not be a bad idea for the future…' He found Sophia waiting for him just inside the docking station. Not wanting any more time being wasted by her incessant lecturing, he ushered her to a pod and launched it right away. He looked around for one for him, and he was lucky enough to have found the last one right before a frightened crewmember was going to board it. He launched the pod and hoped for the best.

The computer (whomever designed this one had a nice heart) actually did something nice for Albel, and it directed him to the closest planet with people on it, even thought the technological level of that planet was more like that of the late medieval age. It also briefed Albel in the "UP3" also know as the Underdeveloped Planet Preservation Pact. It basically said that if you had to land on a planet that had yet to travel into space and discover another race, then you needed to attempt to blend in and not influence the technological advancement of that planet. 'Screw that!' Albel thought before drifting off to sleep. The last few days had been quite hard on him, and he finally got a chance to escape from the reality of it all.

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It's been a long time coming, but I finally finished this latest chapter. I am working on several different stories, some of which are on this site, while others are still too early in the development process to be able to post. I know that at least one of the stories I am looking at finishing and possible getting a few publishers to look at it. Anyways, as always, I appreciate feedback (not complete flames though) and if you want to contact me about something (I'm usually only on during the weekend though) the best way is to message me on xfire (leondeath). I'm going to get started on this next chapter ASAP so I know I can actually get it done quicker then this one!


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